Soumitra Chatterjee

Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelled as Chattopadhyay; 19 January 1935 – 15 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, director, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his collaborations with director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films.

Starting with his debut film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959), the third part of The Apu Trilogy, as adult Apu, he went on to work in several films with Ray, including Abhijan (The expedition, 1962), Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969), Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973), Sonar Kella (The Fortress, 1974), and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978) as Feluda, Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), Ghare Baire (The Home and The World, 1984), Shakha Proshakha (1990), and Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989).

He also worked with other noted directors of Bengali cinema, such as Mrinal Sen in Akash Kusum (Up in the Clouds, 1965); Tapan Sinha in Kshudhita Pashan (Hungry Stones, 1960), Jhinder Bandi (1961); Asit Sen in Swaralipi (1961), Ajoy Kar in Parineeta (1969), and Tarun Mazumdar in Ganadevata (1978). He acted in more than 210 films in his career. He also received critical acclaim for his directorial debut Stree Ki Patra (1986) which was based on the Bengali short story Streer Patra by Rabindranath Tagore.

Chatterjee was the recipient of multiple honors and awards. Chatterjee was the first Indian film personality who was conferred with France's highest award for artists, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1999). He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan (2004) and France's highest civilian award Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur (2017). He received two National Film Awards as an actor and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for his work in theatre. In 2012, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given by the government of India for lifetime achievement. In 2013, IBN Live named him as one of "The men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema".

Soumitra was born in Mirzapur Street (now Surya Sen Street) near Sealdah railway station, in Calcutta in 1935. The first ten years of his early life were spent in Krishnanagar in West Bengal. The town under the influence of playwright Dwijendralal Ray, also from Krishnanagar, had a flourishing theatre culture, with numerous small theatre groups. His grandfather was the president of one such group while his father, though a lawyer by profession and later a government worker, also worked as an amateur actor. Encouraged by the praise he received for his acting in school plays, gradually his interest in theatre grew with passing years. He was a very close friend of famous theatre personality, Mrityunjay Sil who is often regarded as a key influence on his career.

Soumitra and his family moved to Howrah where he studied at the Howrah Zilla School and Calcutta during his early years. Soumitra graduated from the City College, Kolkata with honors in Bengali literature, as a graduating student of the University of Calcutta. He lived for a few years in Calcutta in Satyajit Ray's old apartment at 3-lake temple road. He studied for his M.A. in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. While still a student, he learned acting under noted actor-director of Bengali theatre Ahindra Choudhury. However, a turning point came when in the final year of college he saw a play by Sisir Bhaduri, theatre director and the doyen of Bengali theatre. The play not only set a standard for acting for him but also helped make up his mind to become an actor. He managed to meet Bhaduri, through his friend's mother, actress Shefalika Putul. Though he met Bhaduri, towards the end of his career, when his theatre had closed, nevertheless over the next three years, till Bhaduri's death in 1959, Chatterjee made him a mentor and learned the craft of acting through their regular interactions. He even appeared in a small role in one of Bhaduri's productions.

Subsequently, he started his career working in All India Radio as an announcer, While he was there he started pursuing a career in films. He came in touch with Ray during the casting for Aparajito (1956), who was looking for new faces. Ray thought he had the right look, however, found him, age 20, and just out of college, too old for the role of adolescent Apu. Ray remembered him and offered him the role of adult Apu two years later. Meanwhile, he was rejected in his screen test for the Bengali film, Nilachale Mahaprabhu (1957) directed by Kartik Chattopadhyay.

Work with Satyajit Ray: 1959–1990

Chatterjee had gone on the sets of Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar (1958) to watch the shoot. He was unaware that he had already been selected for the title role in the Apu trilogy. That day, while he was leaving the sets, Ray called him over and introduced him to actor Chhabi Biswas as "This is Soumitra Chattopadhyay; he's playing Apu in my next film Apur Sansar" leaving him much surprised. Despite being selected, as a debutant actor, Chatterjee was nevertheless unsure of his career choice and especially his looks, as he didn't consider himself photogenic. However, on 9 August 1958, when the first shooting of the film was accepted in a single take, he realized that he had found his vocation. Thus Soumitra's film debut came in 1959 in Satyajit Ray's The World of Apu (Apur Sansar). In fact, Ray believed with a beard Chatterjee looked like young poet laureate Tagore.

Soumitra would go on to collaborate with Ray in fourteen films. His centrality to Ray's work is akin to other key collaborations in the history of cinema — Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa, Marcello Mastroianni and Federico Fellini, De Niro and Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, Max von Sydow and Ingmar Bergman, Jerzy Stuhr and Krzysztof Kieślowski, Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog. After Apur Sansar, he also worked with Sharmila Tagore in a number of Ray's films, apart from working with leading star actor of the period, Uttam Kumar, with whom he has often been compared, in eight films.

Chatterjee was cast in diverse roles by Ray and some of the stories and screenplays that Ray wrote were said to be written with him in mind. Soumitra featured as Feluda/Pradosh Chandra Mitter, the famous private investigator from Calcutta in Ray's Feluda series of books, in two films in the 1970s Sonar Kella (1974) and Joi Baba Felunath (1979). These two films were the first film series made for Feluda and are considered the Feluda original film series. He was the first person who portrayed the iconic Bengali sleuth Feluda. Satyajit Ray made some illustrations of Feluda based on Soumitra's body figure and look in the 1970s Feluda books. After him, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty took the role of the iconic Bengali hero Feluda in the mid-1990s.

Soumitra had approached Satyajit Ray to suggest a name for a little magazine founded by Soumitra and Nirmalya Acharya in 1961. Satyajit Ray had named the magazine Ekkhon (Now), he designed the inaugural cover page and illustrated the cover pages regularly even after Soumitra had stopped editing the magazine. Nirmalya continued editing the magazine, and several of Ray's scripts were published in the magazine.

Other works

Besides working with Ray, Soumitra excelled in collaborations with other well-known Bengali directors such as Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. He earned critical acclaim for his role of an impostor in Mrinal Sen's Akash Kusum (1965). He was equally confident in playing the swashbuckling horse-riding villain in Tapan Sinha's Jhinder Bandi (1961) giving the legendary Uttam Kumar a tough challenge. In the romantic film Teen Bhubaner Pare (1969), he shared the screen with actress Tanuja, the film was noted for his "flamboyant" style of acting. Besides films, Chatterjee continued acting in Kolkata-based Bengali theatre, and also published over 12 poetry books.

Entering the 1980s and 1990s, he started working with contemporary directors, like Goutam Ghose, Aparna Sen, Anjan Das and Rituparno Ghosh, and even acted on television. In 1986, he played the role of a swimming coach in the film Kony (1986) directed by Saroj Dey, who was part of the film collective Agragami. The film is about a young girl from a slum, who wants to become a swimmer. At the 32nd National Film Awards, the film won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. Later in 2012 interview, he called Kony one of the best films of his career. He even recalled using the film's catch-phrase "Fight-Koni-fight" in hard times, as a chant to himself to lift his "aging spirits". The phrase had become popular with middle-class Bengalis at the time.

Theatre

He replaced Mrityunjay Sil as the lead artist in 1958. Mrityunjay Sil was at the peak of his theatre career at that time. But due to personal issues, he suggested his friend, Soumitra's name. Mrityunjay Sil is often credited with being one of the few people to have helped Soumitra. But he soon left his job.

After a two-decade-long busy career as a leading man of Bengali cinema, he returned to the theatre in 1978, with his production Naam Jiban, staged at Biswarupa Theatre in Kolkata. This led to other plays like Rajkumar (1982), Phera (1987), Nilkantha (1988), Ghatak Biday (1990) and Nyaymurti (1996), besides notable plays like Tiktiki (1995), an adaptation of Sleuth and Homapakhi (2006). Besides acting, he has written and directed several plays, translated a few and also branched out to poetry reading in recent decades.

Since November 2010, he regularly performed in the title role of the play Raja Lear directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay, a play based on King Lear by William Shakespeare. Soumitra received widespread critical and popular accolades for his acting in the play.

Incidentally, besides receiving eight awards from the Bengal Film Journalists' Association for the best actor and international recognition for his acting prowess, Chatterjee never won a National Film Award for acting in the early part of his career, which established his reputation as an actor, working with directors like Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, and Mrinal Sen. Thus, over the years, he has been vocal about his feelings of disappointment and alleging bias in the National Film Awards committee towards awarding popular and mainstream cinema. Thus, in a gesture of protest against, he turned down the 2001 Special Jury Award for Dekha directed by Goutam Ghose. Later in an interview, he stated "the National Film Awards overlooked my performances in several powerful roles. When I did Kony, Shashi Kapoor was adjudged the best actor. Anil Kapoor was feted (Best Actor) for Pukar while Dekha was awarded a 'consolation' prize".

However, after receiving the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian honor given by Government of India in 2004, he changed his viewpoint towards awards, and stated "Now (after Padma Bhushan) I feel I don't have the right to hurt my viewers by rejecting an award." A few years later, on 9 June 2008, he was awarded the 2007 National Film Award for Best Actor for Podokkhep (Footsteps) (2006), which he accepted through stating "after decades of acting, I do not attach too much value to it".
In 2010, he won Best Supporting Actor at 54th Asia-Pacific Film Festival for his role in Angshumaner Chhobi (2009).

In 2012, he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema given annually by the Government of India for a lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. In 2014, he received the introductory Filmfare Awards East for Best Male Actor (Critics) for his role in Rupkatha Noy and also he won Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South (1994).

                                                           Suchitra Sen

Suchitra Sen  (born as Roma Dasgupta) (6 April 1931 – 17 January 2014) was an Indian film actress who worked in Bengali and Hindi cinema. The movies in which she was paired opposite Uttam Kumar became classics in the history of Bengali cinema.

Sen was the second Indian actress to receive an award at an international film festival when at the 1963 Moscow International Film Festival, she won the Silver Prize for Best Actress for Saat Pake Bandha. In 1972, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India. From 1979 on, she retreated from public life and shunned all forms of public contact; for this, she is often compared to Greta Garbo. In 2005, she refused the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest cinematic award in India, to stay out of the public eye. In 2012, she was conferred the West Bengal Government's highest honor: Banga Bibhushan. Her first official release was Sukumar Dasgupta's Saat Number Kayedi (1953). She was catapulted to stardom after she was cast as Vishnupriya by Devaki Kumar Bose in his Bhagaban Shree Krishna Chaitanya (1953).

Personal life and education

Rama Dasgupta aka Suchitra Sen was born on 6 April 1931, in a Bangali family of Bhanga Bari village of Belkuchi Upozila, now in Sirajgonj District, Greater Pabna. Her father, the late Korunamoy Dasgupta was a sanitation officer in Pabna Municipality. Her mother, the late Indira Devi was a homemaker. She was their fifth child and second daughter. Sen is a granddaughter of the poet Rajonikant Sen. She received her formal education in Pabna Government Girls High School. The violence of Partition in 1947, brought her family to West Bengal, which was comparably a safe zone for Bengalis. where she married Dibanath Sen, son of a wealthy industrialist Adinath Sen, in 1947, at the age of 15 years. and had one daughter, Moon Moon Sen, who is a former actress. Her father-in-law, Adinath Sen, was supportive of her acting career in films after her marriage. Her industrialist husband invested greatly in her career and supported her.

Sen had made a successful entry into Bengali films in 1952, and then a less successful transition into the Hindi movie industry. According to persistent but unconfirmed reports in the Bengali press, her marriage was strained by her success in the film industry.

Career

Suchitra Sen made her debut in films with Shesh Kothaay in 1952, but it was never released. The following year saw her act opposite Uttam Kumar in Sharey Chuattor, a film by Nirmal Dey. It was a box-office hit and is remembered for launching Uttam-Suchitra as a leading pair. They went on to become the icons for Bengali dramas for more than 20 years, becoming almost a genre unto themselves. She has acted in 30 of her 60 films with Uttam Kumar. She received a Best Actress Award nomination for the film Devdas (1955), which was her first Hindi movie. Her Bengali melodramas and romances, especially with Uttam Kumar, made her the most famous Bengali actress ever.

Her films ran through the 1960s and '70s. Her husband died in 1970 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Suchitra went on to act in films such as in the Hindi film Aandhi (1974). Aandhi was inspired by India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Sen received a Filmfare Award nomination as Best Actress, while Sanjeev Kumar, who played the role of her husband, won the Filmfare as Best Actor.

One of her best-known performances was in Deep Jwele Jaai (1959). She played a character named Radha Mitra, a hospital nurse employed by a progressive psychiatrist, Pahadi Sanyal, who is expected to develop a personal relationship with male patients as part of their therapy. Sanyal diagnoses the hero, Basanta Choudhury, as having an unresolved Oedipal dilemma. He orders Radha to play the role though she is hesitant as in a similar case she had fallen in love with the patient. She finally agrees and bears up to Choudhury's violence impersonates his mother, sings his poetic compositions, and in the process falls in love again. In the end, even as she brings about his cure, she suffers a nervous breakdown. The film is noted for its partly lit close-ups of Sen, which set the tone of the film. Asit Sen remade the film in Hindi as Khamoshi (1969), with Waheeda Rehman in the Suchitra Sen role.

Suchitra Sen's other landmark film with Asit Sen was Uttar Falguni (1963). She plays the dual role of a courtesan, Pannabai, and her daughter Suparna, a lawyer. Critics note that she brought a great deal of poise, grace, and dignity to the role of a fallen woman determined to see her daughter grow up in a good, clean environment.

Suchitra Sen's international success came in 1963 when she won the best actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival for the movie Saat Pake Bandha, becoming the first Indian actress to receive an international film award.

A film critic summed up Suchitra Sen's career and continuing legacy as "one half of one of Indian cinema's most popular and abiding screen pairs, Suchitra Sen redefined stardom in a way that few actors have done, combining understated sensuality, feminine charm, and emotive force and a no-nonsense gravitas to carve out a persona that has never been matched, let alone surpassed in Indian cinema"    

In retirement

Suchitra Sen refused  Satyajit Ray's offer due to a scheduling problem. As a result, Ray never made the film Devi Chaudhurani, based on the novel written by Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. She also refused Raj Kapoor's offer for a film under the RK banner.

Sen continued to act after her husband's death in 1970 but called it the day when Pronoy Pasha flopped and retired from the screen in 1978 after a career of over 25 years to a life of quiet seclusion. She was to do a film project; Nati Binodini, also starring Rajesh Khanna, but the film was shelved mid-way after shooting when she decided to quit acting.

She assiduously avoided the public gaze after her retirement and devoted her time to the Ramakrishna Mission.

Death

Suchitra Sen was admitted to the hospital on 24 December 2013 and was diagnosed with a lung infection. She was reported to have been recovering well in the first week of January. She died at 8.25 am on 17 January 2014, due to a heart attack. She was 82 years old.

Suchitra Sen's death was condoled by many leaders, including the President of India Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. A gun salute was given before her cremation, upon the orders of Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Respecting her fierce desire for complete privacy, her last rites were performed at Kolkata's Kaioratola crematorium, barely five and half hours after she died, with her coffin reaching the crematorium in a flower-decked hearse with dark-tinted windows. Despite being Bengal's greatest star, referred to as "Mahanayika", she had consciously chosen to step into oblivion and she remained an enigma till her last, although thousands of fans had converged at the crematorium to catch one last glimpse of their idol. Her entire medical treatment had also been done in seclusion and secrecy.

 Uttam Kumar

Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chatterjee; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980) aka Mahanayak was an Indian film actor who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema.

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Perhaps his most lauded appearance was in Satyajit Ray's Nayak (The Hero). It is now widely accepted that Ray wrote the script with Uttam in mind. Many people feel the film bears resemblance to Uttam Kumar's own life – the sense of anxiety and restlessness mirrored Uttam's insecurities about his phenomenal success and abiding fear that his superstardom might not last. Uttam made the role of Arindam (Mukherjee) his own and Ray later confessed that if Uttam had refused the film, he would have abandoned it. He worked with Ray the following year in Chiriyakhana (1967).

He explored new avenues of film-making by trying his hand at production, singing, composing music, screenplay writing, and directing. The success of his Indian films as producer — Harano Sur, Saptapadi, Bhrantibilash, Jotugriha (1964), Grihadah — won the greatest acclaim. On producing Chhoti Si Mulaqat in 1967, which was a Hindi film starring Uttam and Vyjayanthimala, Uttam almost used up all his savings, since the film had to be shot in color and was shot in extravagant locations. Both Uttam and Vyjayanthimala had huge hopes associated with the film, but the film was a flop leading to great disappointment for Uttam Kumar. It was later said that this flop was one of the main reasons for triggering the heart attack, which ultimately led to his death. Later, Uttam directed much-lauded films such as Sudhu Ekti Bochhor and Bon Palashir Padaboli. He composed music for the film Kaal Tumi Aleya in which Hemanta Mukherjee and Asha Bhosle sang to his tune.

He came out with an authorized biography Aamar Ami in 1979–80. He had a phenomenal fan base which continues even to this day. In 1960, he started writing an autobiography named Harano Dinguli Mor (My Bygone Days), but could not complete it. Parts of that book were published by the magazine Nabokallol. On the day Uttam died, the original manuscript was stolen. Later, a member from Times of India had found the manuscript and the national library helped to find old editions of Nabakallol and then the incomplete book was finally published in the 37th Calcutta Book Fair. As a singer, he recorded songs for the AIR – All India Radio – and very recently, an album of Tagore songs (Rabindrasangeet) sung by him, has been brought out.

There was a time when at the heights of his popularity Uttam Kumar was approached to recite the Chandi Path in the All India Radio (AIR) studios. Traditionally this had always been done by Birendra Krishna Bhadra. But there was a huge uproar amongst the audience as to why Uttam Kumar had been chosen instead of Birendra Krishna. Uttam personally met Mr. Bhadra and apologized and from the next year, Mahalaya on AIR was again done by Bhadra.

Reruns of his films on television decades after his death are still eagerly watched. Uttam Kumar's time is considered by most as the Golden Era of Bengali cinema.

Uttam-Suchitra combination

The on-screen chemistry between Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen have always been much adored and admired. Both of them together constituted the evergreen and popular romantic pair of Bengali Cinema till date. Some of Uttam's famous films co-starring Suchitra Sen include Share Chuattor, Agni Pariksha, Shilpi, Saptapadi, Pathe Holo Deri, Harano Sur, Chaowa Paowa, Bipasha, Jiban Trishna, Sagarika, Trijama, Indrani, Sabar Upare, Surjyo Toron, Rajlakshmi O Sreekanto, "Ekti Raat", "Grihadaha", Kamallata, Har Mana Har, Alo Amar Alo.

Shonar Harin (1959) saw Supriya Devi (who would win great accolades for her performance in Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara the following year) play the lead opposite Uttam Kumar. As they began to act in more films together, the two got involved off-screen as well. In 1963, Uttam left his family home at Girish Mukherjee Road, Bhowanipur, and stayed with Supriya for the next 17 years till his death. They starred together in several other films like Uttarayan, Chiradiner, Agni Sanskar, Suno Baranari, Kal Tumi Aleya, Lal Pathor, Andha Atit, Sudhu Ekti Bochhor, Mon Niye, Bilambita Loy, Bhola Maira, Sanyasi Raja, Bon Palashir Padabali, Sister, Jibon Mrityue, Bagh Bandi Khela.

Personal life

Uttam Kumar married Gauri Chatterjee in 1948 and got divorced in 1963. Later, he married actress Supriya Devi in 1963 and lived with her till his death.

A workaholic, he was rumored to have said that his preferred demise would be on the floor of a studio, doing what he loved best: acting. While filming Ogo Bodhu Shundori in 1980 Uttam Kumar suffered a stroke and was admitted to the Belle Vue Clinic. The doctors did their best for 16 hours but he died that night on 24 July 1980 at the age of 53. As his dead body found its way across Bhowanipur and finally to the Keoratala Burning Ghat, traffic in Kolkata came to a halt as thousands flocked the streets to pay their respects and have a last glimpse of the legend.

National Film Awards

·        1955: Recognition from the Government of India for Harano Sur.

·        1961: 9th National Film Awards – Certificate of Merit for Second Best Feature Film in Bengali – Saptapadi

·        1963: 11th National Film Awards – National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali:Uttar Falguni (as producer)

·        1968: National Film Award for Best Actor for Chiriyakhana and Antony Firingee in 15th National Film Award (he was the first actor to get that. The very same year when actress Nargis got the best actress award for Raat Aur Din)

Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards.

·        1962: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Saptapadi. Uttam Kumar received the award from the legendary film-maker, Debaki Bose.

·        1967: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Nayak. Attended the Berlin Film Festival as a distinguished guest.

·        1968: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Grihadaha.

·        1972: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Ekhane Pinjar.

·        1973: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Stree.

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·        1975: B.F.J.A Best Actor award for Amanush.

 STEVEN SPIELBERG

Steven Spielberg, in full Steven Allan Spielberg, (born December 18, 1946, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.), American motion-picture director and producer whose diverse films—which ranged from a science-fiction fare, including such classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), to historical dramas, notably Schindler’s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998)—enjoyed both unprecedented popularity and critical success.

In 1971 he made his first television movie, Duel, a taut, almost claustrophobic exercise in psychosis that was more intense than typical TV fare (it was released theatrically in Europe). Although Spielberg permitted star Dennis Weaver—who played a motorist chased by a homicidal truck driver—to register a one-note impression of sweaty terror throughout the movie, his handling of the action sequences was staged and executed with bravado. The success of Duel enabled Spielberg to make theatrically released motion pictures, beginning with The Sugarland Express (1974), a chase picture with deft accents of comedy but an inexorable movement toward tragedy; it was anchored by Goldie Hawn’s performance.

 SOME WORK:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Jaws (1975), Jurassic Park (1993), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Ready Player One (2018).

 Anurag Kashyap

Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian film director, writer, editor, producer, and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France awarded him the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and letters) in 2013.

After writing a television serial, Kashyap got his major break as a co-writer in Ram Gopal Varma's crime drama Satya (1998), and made his directorial debut with paanch, which never had a theatrical release due to censorship issues. He then went on to direct Black Friday (2007), a film based on the namesake book by Hussain Zaidi about the 1993 Bombay bombings. Its release was held up for two years by the Central Board of Film Certification because of the pending verdict of the case at that time, but was released in 2007 to widespread critical appreciation. Kashyap's follow-up, No Smoking (2007) met with negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. His next venture Dev.D (2009), a modern adaptation of Devdas was a critical and commercial success; followed by the political drama Gulaal (2009), and the thriller That Girl in Yellow Boots (2011).